Research ﻿﻿Interests﻿﻿

Cognitive Biases in Anxious PopulationsCognitive models of anxiety propose that anxious individuals attend to, interpret, and recollect threatening information differently than non-anxious individuals. Moreover, these biases in cognitive processing are thought to be related to the onset, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety. I am interested in examining these biases, and creating new paradigms to explore how cognitive biases differ between anxious and non-anxious individuals.

Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM)Recently, a series of studies have demonstrated that it is possible to shift interpretation and attention biases through brief computerized interventions, termed cognitive bias modification (CBM). I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting new research field, and hope to further this line of work by testing CBM paradigms with new populations, and by evaluating the clinical utility of CBM through comparing it to more traditional forms of therapy (e.g., exposure). From a theoretical perspective, this research tests the predicted causal relationship between cognitive bias change and fear reduction. Moreover, this research has high potential clinical value because, given the centrality of changing cognitive processing in current anxiety treatments. Additionally, CBM may be more palatable than traditional exposure-based procedures. Finally, CBM paradigms can be rapidly disseminated via the computer and are inexpensive given that they do not require direct therapist contact.

Postpartum Anxiety and OCDPostpartum anxiety disorders are the most prevalent postpartum psychiatric conditions. Up to 16% of mothers experience postpartum anxiety or related disorders, such as OCD. Left untreated, perinatal anxiety and OCD are associated with numerous adverse outcomes, such as maternal depression, preterm birth, impaired fetal development, low birthweight, difficulty breastfeeding, anxiety in children, and interference with parent-infant bonding. We are developing effective and scalable prevention programs to address postpartum anxiety and OCD. Currently, we are developing and testing the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of an Internet-delivered postpartum anxiety and OCD prevention program, called “Preventing Postpartum Onset Distress”, or P-POD.

We also have fun tools, like Biopac for recording skin conductance, and Oculus Rift for virtual reality!﻿Publications:﻿

Steinman, S. A., Portnow, S., Billingsley, A., & Teachman, B. A. (2017). The presence of threat bias, but not the absence of positive bias, predicts trait and state anxiety in a large online sample. Manuscript in progress.